Uncoupling-lever.



J'. J. HANNON.

UNGOUPLING LEVER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 19,1907.

949,824? Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

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' JAMES J. HAn NonoF noeansron'r, momma, ASSIGNOR 'ro WALTER P. MURPHY,

. or s r. LOUIS, MIssoUnI.

UNooUPL-ING-LEVER.

To aZZAw'hom may concern:

Specification of Letters Patent.

Be it known that I, Jiuirs' J. .l'IAXXUN, a

tion'. as will be readily understood. I shall citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Logansport, in the county of (lass and State]off-Indiana. have invented certain new and useful Improvements inUncoupling-Levers,

:of which the following is a specification.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is an end view ofa car end sill, broken away.with my invention in position. view ofthesame. Figs. 3 and 4 are topplan views of the levers detached. Figs. and 6 are top plan and endelevation, respectivel'y, of one ofthepivot plates. Figs. 7

and 8 are similar views of another pivot platef 1 represents a car ofapproved construe tion having an end sill'2 constructed of coin- Ofcourse any type of end sill may be employed as far mercially' rolled.channel iron.

as my invention is concerned.

3 is a coupler of approved type.

i a plate having an offset at one end which'terminates in a pivotbearing 0. The

5 offset and pivot hearing are deflected downward as clearly shown inthe several views in the drawing so that they willbe in a horizontalplane below the top of the end sill. The plate 4 is provided with rivetor bolt openings through which bolts or rivets are passed whereby it isrigidly secured to the flange ofthe channel iron.

The plate 7 is provided with openings to facilitate its attachment tothe flange of the channel iron. This plate is provided with an olfset 8about midway its length, from which projects a pivot bearing 9. Theoffset and pivot bearing 8 and 9 are deflected downward and thenceoutward as explained in connection with the offset and pivot bear ing ofthe plate 4. 10 is the pin of the coupler having an eye in its head.

11 is a lever pivoted on the pivot bearing 9 of the plate 7 whereby itis pivotally mounted on the 'end sill of the car. This lever has an offs6t 12 and an extension 13 whereby it is positioned in line with the eyeof the coupling pinthe extreme end of the portion 13 being reduced androunded as at 14 whereby it may readily slide, or rather the pin mayslide on it as the draw bar swingsfrom side to side of the car in rounding curves and its general movement in ir Fig. 2 is a top plan PatentedFeb. 22, 1919.

' Application filed July 19. 1907. Serial No. 384.546.

.p(' rtion 13 being turned up as at 15 to prevent the pin lipping oilsaid rounded porior sake of brevity refer to the portions 1 1, 1-2, 13,as the uncoupling lever in the specification and claims.

The outer end of the uncoupling lever is deflected downward and slightlyoutward as zit-1G and provided with a hook I? which is turned inwardtoward the end sill as clearly shown in Fig. 2. p

18 is a hand operated lever pivoted on the pivotal bearing 6 to the endsill some distance from the pivot of the uncoupling lever toward theside of the car, theend 19 of which is bent downward and thence upwardin a gentle curve with its extreme end in about the same plane as thecenter of the pivot pin 6. The outer end of the hand lever is saggeddownwardly below the plane of the undenface of the end sill, in whichposition it may be readily grasped by a trainman ewithout danger ofhaving his hand caught between the end sills of adjacent cars.

My improved release sagging or uncoupling release is dcsigned to beoperated by raising up on the lever 18 which causes its end 19 to swingdownward in an arc and as the-end 19 is in engagement with the hook 17of the uncoupling lever said lever is swung on its pivot 9 and its innerend elevated wherebythe pin 10 is raised and the uncoupling efiected.

It will be seen that the levers have no rigid or fixed connectionbetween them thus they may, independently take up the usual movements ofa car in transit without afl ecting the coupling.

It will be noticed that the uncoupling lever is pivoted beyond itscenter toward the side of the ear. thus placing the greatest weightbetween its pivot and the coupling pin, the object of which is toobviate the accidental uncoupling of the cars while in transit, due tothe vertical movement of the lever incident to the movement of thetrain. It has been found that with the weight of an independent leverlike this disposed equally, or nearly so, of its pivot, it has atendency to jolt upward, thus uncoupling the cars while .in transit,which may result in destruction .of life and property. For this reason Idispose the greatest weight of the lever on the coupling pin.

regularities in the road bed. The end of the As will be seen in Fig. 2,the major portion of the hand operated lever 18 is deflected toward theend sill so as to prevent the hand levers of coupled cars engaging orinterfering with each other on curves.

The outer end of the hand operated lever is limited in its downwardmovement by means of its hook 2O engaging the uncoupling lever:

It will be understood that my uncoupling lever can be operated by aperson standing on the end sill, over the rigging, by placing the footon the end of the lttYQl. which is connected with the draw bar andpushing down. When cutting a car oil' from a train, this will be found agreat advantage, as it will avoid the necessity at times, of having tohang over the side of the car to make the uncoupling.

What I claim is-- 1. In a release rigging for cars, the combinationWithan uncoupling lever pivotally mounted and having a downward saggingouter end, and a hook on said sagging end, of a hand operated leverindependently pivoted and a hook on its inner end constructed to engagethe uncoupling lever while the hook ofthe uncoupling lever isconstructed to engage the hand operated 2. In a release rigging, thecombination with a commercially rolled channel iron end sill, of a platesecured to the flange thereof, and apivot bearing extending downward andthence forward from said plate,

3. In a release rigging,,the combination with an end sill ofcommercially rolled channel iron, two pivot plates secured a distanceapart to the upper flange of said iron, of an uncoupling lever pivotallymounted on one of said pivots, a hook depending from. the outer endofsaid lever, the inner end of this lever being reduced in diameter, and ahand operated lever independently mounted on the other pivot, the innerend of the hand lever being bent downward and thence upward, a hook onthe inner end of the hand lever, the outer end of said hand lever beingsagged'downward below the under face of the endsill, the hook of eachlever being c0nstructed to engage theother lever.

In testimony whereof I afilx any signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES J. i-iANNON.

Witnesses:

E. R. HELM, J. W. SCI-IONERT.

